I was reading an illustration D. L. Moody used in witnessing to people. He would ask a person to hold out his hands out straight from his body. Then he would tell him that the left hand represents him while the right hand represents Jesus. He would then take a heavy book and put it in that hand. Moody would explain that the book represented sin. Moody would ask the person if he could hold that heavy book for a long time with just that hand. The burdened hand would eventually start to lower. Moody would ask him what was wrong and the person would say he could not hold it anymore. Moody would then take the person’s right hand, place it on top of the book and flip it over into that hand. Moody explained that Jesus does that for us. Since He was without sin, He took on our burden of sin so we would not have to do so. I tried this with a young woman and she remarked it was so simple that her young daughter could understand it. Shouldn’t all Gospel presentations be that simple?
Richard Porter, pastor of Branchville Baptist Church, Branchville, SC is going to be nominated this fall for the SCBC president when the SCBC meets in Florence, SC. When I called him today, he confirmed this report.
Richard has served as pastor in churches in North Carolina and South Carolina. He was also a church planter in New Hampshire. Branchville Baptist Church in the Orangeburg-Calhoun Bapist Association for 11 years. During his time in the Association, he has held many positions including Chairman of the Stewardship Committee, Chairman of the Nomination Committee, and Moderator. In the SCBC, he has been the vice president of the Pastors’ Conference. He has served on the Executive Committee, the Committee on Committees, and Nominations committee. He is currently Vice Chairman of the Nominations Committee. He has served as Registration Secretary, 2nd Vice President, and 1st Vice President.
He attended North Greenville University when it was a two year college, graduated from Charleston Southern University where he is a member of its Minister Support Network, has a Master’s of Divinity from SEBTS, and a Doctorate of Ministry from Covington Seminary.
He is a widower with 3 grown children and 5 grandchildren. He served our country for 4 years in the U.S. Marines.
More importantly than any accomplishment or feat that I have listed here, I can say from personal experience that Richard is faithful and loyal friend. He helped me through some difficult times in my ministry. He has mentored younger pastors not only in the Orangeburg-Calhoun Baptist Association but across the state. He has promoted the careers of younger men and has sought to enlarge the leadership tent for younger men. He is the leadership needed now for our Convention as we proceed into the 21st century.
The last session was great! Fagg and Dr. Johnson dealt with chapters 14-16 under the basic theme of respecting others. As this was the situation in the Roman church, it appears to be the situation for our Convention at this time in our history.
Another great session tonight and I will briefly summarize what was said. Marshall Fagg spoke on Romans 8. The overall theme for the study tonight was the question Does God Care About Me? He entitled his lecture tonight Consider How God Helps Christians. His main points were:
God gives a spirit of life.
God gives a spirit of adoption.
God gives a spirit of hope.
God gives a spirit of love.
Dr. Walter Johnson had the more difficult task of dealing with Romans 9-11 which any student of the Bible knows is quite a task to undertake with no time constraints but he was able to do it in a most effective manner. He called his lecture Consider God’s Attitude Towards Israel. Johnson passed out a handout from the commentary on Romans 9 by Adam Clarke. Johnson explained there was some tension among theologians concerning Paul’s meaning in this chapter and it was Johnson’s intention to give us a fuller meaning and scope with the Clarke handout. The difficulties come with verses 6-13 and Paul’s discussion of Jacob and Esau. The question one must ask in dealing with this chapter and these verses in particular is this: Can God foreordain something to happen then people freely chose to do it? It is the issue of free agency and God’s sovereignty which Johnson pointed out that Charles Spurgeon never saw a conflict between the two doctrines. Johnson told the story of a woman approaching Spurgeon and telling him of her problem with this verse. He said that he agreed with her that it was a troublesome verse. To which she asked how could God hate Esau which Spurgeon that his question was how could God love Jacob? The main point of these chapters is that God is fair and He shows mercy to us when we didn’t deserve it. It is a call to evangelism and missions knowing that all we do is for His glory.
This morning began with Romans 4 taught by Dr. Walter Johnson. The question for the session was Is God Still Active Today? Dr. Johnson pointed out that Paul was writing to a audience composed of Jews and Gentiles so he was going to prove the doctrine of justification by faith using the Old Testament. The example he picked was the life of Abraham. Dr. Johnson made these points concerning Chapter 4:
Abraham was saved by faith therefore he could not boast
Abraham’s faith was accredited to him as righteousness. It was not his righteousness but the righteousness of God which was accredited to him therefore he could not boast.
Paul’s basis assumption is that God is obliged to no one. He does not owe us anything.
In verses 6-8, Paul points to David who says that God declares wicked people innocent. The wicked of which David refers is everyone and God accepts us based on faith. He takes the righteousness of Christ and imputes it to us.
God declares the believer”not guilty” then makes that believer “not guilty”.
Jew and Gentile are one in the church by the faith of Abraham in Christ.
Circumcision was a sign of his faith and a circumcised heart is a sign of a believer’s faith.
The promise of God is the key element of the New Covenant.
Faith is verified by obedience.
God takes the person who is dead in sin and makes them alive in Christ.
An unwavering faith is one that takes into account the evidence of the facts then factors into the equation the power of God.
Paul is saying that Abraham was justified by faith and James 2:24 is saying that Abraham’s faith was demonstrated by his obedience to God.
I realize this is not SNL nor Camelot but it is Anderson University in South Carolina for the Bible Study and Preaching Retreat this week. I had a wonderful scenic drive through the country thanks to a borrowed GPS system. Anderson is a lovely city and I have always liked it. The Bible Study and Preaching Retreated was coordinated by the Evangelism and Missions Team of the SCBC. The program personnel are Dr. Walter Johnson, the Dean of the College of Christian Studies, North Greenville University; Rev. Marshall Fagg, Director of Evangelism and Missions Team, SCBC; Rev. Roosevelt Morris, Director, Office of Prayer and Spiritual Awakening, SCBC; and Rev. Duane Slate, Minister of Music, Forestville Baptist Church, Greenville, SC.
I was amazed at this interview. Carlton Pearson, the pastor of New Dimensions in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has come out and said he does not believe in Hell. In fact, he calls his new doctrine the Gospel of Inclusion but it is nothing more than repackaged, slick marketed universal reconciliation or universal salvation. We should not be surprised that he has moved in this direction to denying the existence of Hell. He is in the United Church of Christ denomination. In 2004, the Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops formally named him a heretic as reported in this article. His response to this charge is here. It simply a reworking of the same old heresies put forth by Origen. Pearson is a well educated, learned man who is very sincere in his beliefs but he is sincerely wrong. The so-called proof texts he uses are easily disproved.
Millard J. Erickson in his work, Christian Theology, deals with these issues in pages 1015-1019. As he points out, Philippians 2:10-11 and Colossians 1:19-20 does not say that all will be saved but rather that the order of the universe will be restored and with that restoration, everything will be brought under subjection to God. Those who rebel against God will be defeated and offer reluctant submission to God but it does not mean they will be brought into fellowship with God. 1 Timothy 4:10 and Hebrews 2:9 point to the fact that Jesus Christ died for all and salvation is available to all but not all will be saved because there will be those who reject the gift of salvation. These verses may be used to argue for universal atonement but not universal salvation. Romans 5:18 and 1 Corinthians 15:22 quite clearly are used to draw parallels between the first Adam and the second Adam, Jesus Christ as to show the sin of Adam as compared with the salvation by Christ. A reading of them in context shows that Paul was referring to all believers, not all mankind. Finally, let’s consider Romans 11:32 which seems to suggest that God saves all but a careful reading shows that Paul is talking about Israel’s rejection of Jesus and the offer of salvation made to all Gentiles. Only those who accept the gift of salvation will profit from it.
Not everyone will be saved. This simple biblical fact should drive us to further evangelistic zeal and efforts to save those who are lost. If we as a Convention do not reaffirm our belief in Hell and reject the tenets of open theism, we shall soon travel down this wide path.
I found this information today and submit it for your consideration. It is from the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families website.
Harm is just a mouse click away…
Though a valuable information resource, the Internet caused explosive growth for the pornography industry. Currently, there are over 300,000 pornographic web sites on the Internet, according to David Burt of N2H2, and this number is growing every day. It is essentially the fastest, cheapest and most anonymous pornography outlet available. Only certain commercial sites require a credit card to enter, and most sites display hardcore “teasers” through which computer users connect to pornography sites within seconds.More>
The commentary on SBC Ghost Recon is the sole opinion of the author unless otherwise noted. SBC Ghost Recon can not give validity to the truthfulness or accuracy to the comments of others. Content may be reproduced if accurate citation is given, and may not be used for commercial purposes. Please contact the author if you link to an article or otherwise use any material contained in SBC Ghost Recon.
Comments are moderated to preserve the family-oriented nature of this website and in an attempt to avoid comment spam. Your comments will not appear immediately and are subject to editing or deletion. I will make every attempt to check new comments in a timely manner. The author may edit or remove at his discretion any comments that contain inappropriate material, that which may be taken as personal attacks on individuals, or that he just doesn't like. No name-calling or vulgar-language will be permitted.
I was reading an illustration D. L. Moody used in witnessing to people. He would ask a person to hold out his hands out straight from his body. Then he would tell him that the left hand represents him while the right hand represents Jesus. He would then take a heavy book and put it in that hand. Moody would explain that the book represented sin. Moody would ask the person if he could hold that heavy book for a long time with just that hand. The burdened hand would eventually start to lower. Moody would ask him what was wrong and the person would say he could not hold it anymore. Moody would then take the person’s right hand, place it on top of the book and flip it over into that hand. Moody explained that Jesus does that for us. Since He was without sin, He took on our burden of sin so we would not have to do so. I tried this with a young woman and she remarked it was so simple that her young daughter could understand it. Shouldn’t all Gospel presentations be that simple?
Richard Porter, pastor of Branchville Baptist Church, Branchville, SC is going to be nominated this fall for the SCBC president when the 
This morning began with Romans 4 taught by Dr. Walter Johnson. The question for the session was Is God Still Active Today? Dr. Johnson pointed out that Paul was writing to a audience composed of Jews and Gentiles so he was going to prove the doctrine of justification by faith using the Old Testament. The example he picked was the life of Abraham. Dr. Johnson made these points concerning Chapter 4:
I was amazed at this 
